Britain’s economic growth revised up to 0.4%

The UK emerged from its 18-month recession at the end of last year more strongly than previously thought.

In its third estimate of GDP growth the Office for National Statistics said today that the economy grew by 0.4 per cent between October and December, unexpectedly lifting its previous estimate of growth of 0.3 per cent and beating the expectations of economists that the figure would be unchanged.

The ONS had originally estimated 0.1 per cent growth. It said that the second revision was influenced by stronger output from the construction and service industries and from agriculture.

The economy still shrank by a record 4.9 per cent last year, the ONS said, and the fall in output during the recession remained at 6.2 per cent, the